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The National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) is concerned about cases of tuberculosis that are missing treatment. They are estimated at more than 5,992 and more than 700 in children. These people maintain the transmission of the disease and, as a result, slow down the efforts of the TNP.
Tuberculosis affects more and more people in Senegal and even in the world. The magnitude of the disease is justified by the increase in poverty, but also the upheavals, including the advent of AIDS which revived it while the players in the fight had predicted its end in the '80s. To this must be added the diabetes which, according to the pneumologist Alioune Niang, promotes the occurrence of tuberculosis. Promiscuity and late resorting to health facilities do nothing to ease the fight against the pandemic. In 2017 alone, the National Tuberculosis Program (NTP) received 13,660 cases of tuberculosis patients of all types, including 10,117 cases of contagious form and 300 cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Six regions including Dakar and Thiès, among others, share the burden of the disease with 42% of cases in the region of Dakar alone.
The challenge of the struggle are the missing cases, according to Marie Sarr Diouf, coordinator of the Pnt. It estimated 5,992 the number of tuberculosis cases not yet found. In children, this figure is estimated at more than 700 cases, according to the figures of the coordinator. A danger because it is "these people who maintain the transmission of the disease and make it difficult for the program to respond," regrets Dr Diouf, who calls people to visit the health facilities at the onset of certain symptoms such as a cough that exceeds fifteen days. Beyond awareness raising, Pnt has implemented a new global strategy called End Tb or End TB. The deadline was 2030, but given the fact that the expected results did not live up to expectations, it was postponed until 2035.
Today, the Pnt has changed its approach by pressing new levers. In addition to the community approach, he is experimenting with multisectoral approaches. Thus, 8 ministries, (Youth, Transport, Family, Sports, Armed Forces, Higher Education National Education, Justice) integrate the fight. They are not the only ones, because parliamentarians and high councilors are also invited to play an advocacy role to encourage the authority to make the right decisions. And this is the goal of this awareness workshop. The coordinator wants to rely on parliamentarians to carry the fight because for her it takes a more daring strategy to win the war. She wants the state to allocate more funds and develop more relevant strategies that involve everyone.
Today, says the coordinator of the Pnt, it is no longer a question of stabilizing the disease, but of reducing it . The objective is to reduce the 144 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants to less than 10 per 100 thousand. "It will not be easy. We are not losing hope, because more and more policies against the disease are improving, "says Marie Sarr Diouf
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